NPR 2009-03-25

Treasury¹ Secretary Timothy Geithner says the administration will be asking for new financial tools to prevent future problems with companies like insurance giant AIG. Geithner told the House Committee the administration may be asking for more money as well. NPR’s Scott Horsley has details.

Secretary Geithner says the government needs the authority to monitor big financial companies like AIG and dismantle² them when they are in danger of failing, much the way the FDIC takes control of failing banks. Lawmakers quizzed Geithner about how much more money might be needed to prop³ up the financial system. While the president’s budget includes a contingency⁴ for another 750 billion dollars, Geithner says no decision has been made yet. “I completely understand the scale of skepticism in public opposition⁵ to the provision of additional resources, but our responsibility is to recommend the Congress what’s necessary to help get the economy back on track. And if that requires more resources, it will be our obligation to come to you and make the case for that.” Geithner admits making that case will be more difficult not only because of bonuses paid to executives at AIG but because of frustration⁶ with bailouts in general. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

President Barack Obama is preparing to hold a prime-time news conference in about two hours from now where he’s expected to say the US economy will “recover from this recession”.  The president is also expected to use his appearance to defend the administration’s 3.6-trillion-dollar spending package which he says will put the economic recovery on a stronger foundation that ensures the nation does not face another crisis in ten or twenty years time. Mr. Obama also cites the fact that investing in renewable sources of energy will create new jobs and new businesses while reducing dependence⁷ on foreign oil.

US authority has asked a Guantanamo bay detainee to drop allegations of torture and agree not to speak publicly about his ordeal⁸ in exchange for his freedom. That’s according to British court documents. NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston reports.

Last fall US government attorneys tried to convince Ethiopian refugee Binyam Mohamed to accept certain conditions for a release. The US originally accused Mohamed of having a role in a dirty bomb plot against the US, and then dropped the charges in October. Just before that happened, US attorneys said Mohamed could be released in a year if he admitted guilt⁹, said he’d never been tortured and would not sue the US government. Mohamed was arrested in Pakistan in 2002; from there he went to Morocco where he says he was tortured while in custody¹⁰.  He was then transferred to Afghanistan and then finally ended up the Guantanamo bay. Britain has acknowledged that Mohamed was sent to Morocco but has refused to provide any details. The United States has also refused to account for the time he says he was there. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 115 points ending the session at 7,660. The NASDAQ was down 37 points today. The Standard & Poor’s 500 dropped 16 points to close at 806.

This is NPR.

New York Governor David Paterson is threatening to lay off as many as 8,900 state workers. That’s after a union’s refused concessions¹¹ aimed at closing a looming¹² 16-billion-dollar deficit¹³. State’s Budget Director was quoted as saying the proposed layoff¹⁴ should be the first for the state since the late 1990s. State officials said the layoff could begin July 1st, however state's union could also still return to the bargaining table before a budget package is negotiated. New York state employees are just under 200,000 people.

It’s being predicted that the toll¹⁵ the economic crisis would take on the global airline industry this year will be worse than after the 9/11’s terrorist attacks in 2001. Larry Miller¹⁶ has more from London.

The International Air Transport Association describes the present state of the airline industry as pretty grim. It forecasts globally, airline revenue will be down 12% and airlines will lose 4.7 billion dollars. Not as bad as last year, when the industry lost up to 8.5 billion dollars. To counter the effects of the poor economy and reduced demand, many carriers have cut capacity. There is also the benefit of lower fuel prices. The head of the association said the pressure on the industry balance sheet is extreme. However, US airlines are apparently¹⁷ bucking¹⁸ the downward trend and are expected to make 100-million-dollar profit this year. For NPR News, I’m Larry Miller in London.

Houston Chronicle is the latest big city daily to announce cutbacks. The newspaper says it will begin laying off around 12% of the existing workforce¹⁹ in what’s been built as a cost-cutting move. The paper blames the latest job cuts on changes in the industry. It’s not clear how many Chronicle employees will actually lose their jobs.

1 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

2 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

3 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。

4 contingency   

n.意外事件，可能性

参考例句：

• We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
• A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。

5 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

6 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

7 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

8 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

9 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

10 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

11 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

12 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

13 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

14 layoff   

n.临时解雇，操作停止，活动停止期间，失业期

参考例句：

• Finally, prepare an explanation about what led to your layoff.最后，要准备好一套说辞来解释你被解雇的原因。
• Workers were re-employed after the layoff.在暂时解雇不久后工人们又被再度雇用了。

15 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

16 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

17 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

18 bucking   

v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的现在分词 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• a bucking bronco in the rodeo 牛仔竞技表演中一匹弓背跳跃的野马
• That means we'll be bucking grain bags, bustin's gut. 那就是说咱们要背这一袋袋的谷子，得把五脏都累坏。 来自辞典例句

19 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。